This is essentially a formula for dry skin that itches. While you can certainly seek out topical moisturizers and what-not, in many cases to really get to the root cause of this condition, one must nourish the blood.

So what does the blood have to do with the moisture on the skin? Isn’t that really about “sebaceous secretions” (naturally occurring oils in the skin) or sweat? Good question.

In Chinese medicine, sweat and moisture on the skin are functions of both the lungs (which regulates the opening and closing of the pores of the skin) and the blood. The blood is the precursor to sweat and (healthy, appropriate) oils in the skin.

If the blood is deficient, the skin can become dry, but it gets worse. An ancient adage teaches “to treat wind, you must treat the blood”. The premise here is that when the skin is dry, “wind” from the atmosphere can enter the skin and cause itching, even the sensation of insects crawling on or in the skin. Not pleasant!

So, by nourishing the blood, we can both moisturize the skin and eliminate itching. This is not as quick a fix as something topical for itching, but when the benefits do arrive, they will last longer than the periodic applications of topical anti-itch creams.

There’s actually an inverted narrative for this formula too. Instead of starting out with a blood deficiency allowing wind into the skin which itches, there is the possibility of something in your environment getting in or on the skin that has the effect of drying the blood in the skin local to that exposure. This formula also addresses this scenario.

So, this formula is for blood deficiency leading to dry and itchy skin, or an environmental exposure that damages the blood that nourishes the skin.

The four herbs listed above all belong to the core blood-promoting formula in Chinese medicine called Tang-kuei Four Combination (Si Wu Tang). This is a delicous formula that we promote as a coffee substitute here at Eagle Herbs called Four Miracle Brew. There is nothing in this formula that will cause one to stay awake as may be the case with coffee. However, these blood promoting herbs could give you more endurance rather than too much energy. One minor difference between this formula and the blood-nourishing formulas is that this one contains the raw form of Rehmannia rather than the steamed version. This raw version of this particular herb allows this formula to address redness in the skin. Raw means it is cold in nature. Red means there is heat. So we use the colder version of “di huang” (Rehmannia) in this formula.

The three herbs mentioned above all eliminate wind from the skin. This is essentially pointing to the anti-itch functions of this formula. “Wind” in Chinese medicine can be just about anything from the environment that is invsible (to the naked eye) that causes itching. These herbs work by generating a little “shvitz” as my ancestors would call it (that’s Yiddish for “sweat”.) The action of sweating in this context is a detoxifying action.

This Huang Qi (Astragalus) is commonly used to support immune system functions. While this may make some sense in the narrative of this formula, the classical thinking is actually about that function of the lungs to regulate the opening and closing of the pores of the skin. This herb is among the most important lung qi tonics in Chinese medicine. The premise for its use here is that in some cases the wind enters the skin, which then dries up the blood (or oil and sweat secretions). In this case, regulating those skin pores enables the anti-wind herbs to push out any environmental insults that may have gotten trapped in the skin.

This is a famous herb for keeping one’s hair from getting gray. However in Chinese medicine we actually use it for other things too! One of which is moisturizing the blood. When the blood is not adequately nourishing the skin, we call that “blood dryness”. This herb addresses that condition. You don’t want dry blood do you???

This formula can be used to support health with or without symptoms. If symptoms are present, take 1 level teaspoon of the powder (8 capsules) three times daily. When symptoms are not present, take 1/2 level teaspoon (4 capsules), two times daily. Empty stomach is best for efficient absorption, but not essential. [More…]